Drama Ministry

And The Conductor Was Sore Afraid

"And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no room in the inn." Luke 2:7

Participating in the yearly Sunday school Christmas pageant gave me the erroneous impression that the humble barn where Jesus was born had been a quiet setting. The crowning moment of each December's extravaganza was always the Nativity scene where all the children, dressed in white bed sheets and our fathers' oversized bathrobes, solemnly sang Silent Night by candlelight.

Then I moved to the country and got my own barn, and we had our own birth in the stable. I have a bulletin: the barn is far from quiet! Drought forced a farmer to sell some livestock, including a pregnant mare.

"She's just like Mary," my children implored. "All she needs is a place in our barn to have her baby."

A borrowed baby monitor allowed us to hear what happened in the barn during the night. Birds nesting in the rafters supplied a cacophony of twittering and rustling. Mice scampered through the hay, the horses slurped their food and water before sloshing through straw to lie down. Once asleep, the horses groaned while they napped and passed gas so loudly we thought the mare was giving birth, so we dashed to the barn at 3:30 a.m.

That is why this year's past Christmas pageant was my favorite. The music director decided to do something different for the church program.

“Let's have live animals,” she crowed. Opening night the staging was elaborate. The well-rehearsed choir took its place, and the orchestra began on the downbeat. “Joy to the world,” the audience sang, joining with the choir as the words appeared on the overhead screen. “Let men their sons employ.” (It's amazing the difference a letter "g" can make.)

Designed to cover the noisy rearrangement of the animals on stage, the pianist's solo was a wasted effort because the keyboard was not plugged in. From behind the closed curtains, the audience could distinctly hear the trainer smooching at the reluctant donkey who had been reluctant to come on stage and was now even more reluctant to walk off.

The lead violinist's microphone was not on as the wise men and their young pages made their way to bow before the wailing Christ child. But the middle wise man could not kneel because his youthful cape bearer had pulled his train taut and was proudly sitting on it. Mary and Joseph tried to look holy while the sheep nibbled on their backsides in between burping and chewing their malodorous cud.

It was at that moment that a runaway sheep left his post and began dashing about the little town of Bethlehem. The drummer was so engrossed by the drama he forgot to drum. The conductor looked up from his conducting and paled as the speeding sheep
appeared about to leap into his arms.

By the second performance, the "g" had been added to sons, the keyboard and violin had found their plugs, and reliable fencing had been added for the sheep. The rest of the performances went without a hitch, but my favorite event had been opening night. It seemed a better reenactment of what probably had happened in that starlit stable many years ago.

Posted in: Performing

placeholder

Peggy Sue Wells

Contributor

Writer, producer, radio co-host, board member, workshop presenter, homeschooler, and mom, Peggy Sue is the author of over a dozen books including a couple of bestsellers and several co-authored projects. Her work has been described as giving voice to women, empowering others to pursue their full potential in Christ, and showing students the essentials that make writing do-able.

Comments

a perfect bit of humor before this first time director "performs" this sunday!
Sarah posted on Dec 16th, 2016

You must be logged in to comment.

In Partnership With: Discover Worship

Newsletter

Stay up to date on the latest news, songs, and special offers by signing up for the newsletter!